Key-imprisoning lock



June 10, 1930" c. N.- FAIRCHILD 1,762,921

KEY IMPRISONING LOCK Filed March 2, 192'? z She ets-Sheet 1 June 10, 1930- A c. N:'FAI'RCHILD 1,762,921

KEY IMPRI SONING LOCK I Filed March 2, 1927 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Patented June 10, 1930 umrso STATES 7 CHARLES N. FAIRGHILD, or NEW HAVEN,

CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB ITO FAmcmLn LOCKCORLPIORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., A 003203111 1011 OLE-DELAWARE I xnsmmrmsoivmdrbdz Application .filed March 2,

, turn on the ignition without any difficulty but once having done this, the imprisoning of the key preventsfhim from moving the j key back to locking position and will also prevent him from moving the key forward to locking position without first performing some other manual act which requires his attention and cannot be. done absent-mindedly. with one hand.

A further and important feature is the 2 provision of an arc of travel of a locking cylinder specifically permitting a driver to put the lock in running position and permitting him while in running position to; turn the ignition ofl' and on at will but absolutely barring movementto locking position. without first performing a manual act en: tirely different from. the turning of the key.

A still further and important-object ,of

the present invention is the provision of one-way: notches on a raising cam which eliminates the customarypawl and ratchet mechanism ordinarily used for this purpose.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a face View of the lock. Figure 2 is a side elevation partly broken away I Figure 3 is a section thru the locking bolt axis.

Figures 4:, 5 and 6 show the lockingbolt in different positions; 7 j

p Figures 7 to 10 are'detailed views ofthe rock shaft lever and associated partsin','re-. spectively, 0 or locked position,"180 or third position, 270 orrunning position, and

360 in which the key is ready to be withdrawn but is still in the lock.

For convenience ofidescription in the fol lowing specification the. word top will be used to denote that portion of the device at 9 which the switch box is located. As amat;

. The locking bolt I'Zhasanenlarged cit 1927. Serial No. 172,113.

ter of actual fact, as installed on the auto- J mobile, the device is arranged at an angle to both horizontal and vertical since the steering post casing and the cowl are each slanted, so that in strict accuracy the top of the lock housing is the edge of the device formed by the meeting of the [frontface thru which the key is inserted, and the switch box attaching face. l

' The device in general consists; Of a housing 10 having a housing cap ll each having'a semi-cylindrical recess therein matching to form a complete cylindrical bore receiving thesteering post casing. Thercap 11' is secured to the housing 10- in any desired .manner preferably bymeans oftwoione way screws 18, the heads '19 ofwhich seat about half way of the bores in the cap after the screws are driven home, and the remainder of these bores are-then filled by plugs 20 driven in with a forced fit and finally smoothed flush to theoutside'of the cap. The switch bozgisspreferably a porcelain block25 and conveniently having a metal lid 26. In this switchi'box are located two resilient,.arcuate contact pieces 27 and 28 spaced", apart a convenient ..-distance and which when electrically connected close the ignition circuit. The wires; leading to. the

1 switch box and connected to the "contacts 127 and 28 preferably enter from the rear, .that. is behind the cowl board. Theicontactclose ingelement. may be of any form desired as may the contacts themselves but theparts are here shown in a form that has been found very satisfactory in practice, the. closing element being a metal cup-'30 carried by and insulated fromthe; stem 31 whichfis urged downwardly into open circuit posi tion bya spring 32 confined between the bottomface of the switch box and a collar 33 I and the stem 31.

cam -44 fast upon the inpressed plunger type lock, the barrel of which is denoted 46 in the drawings.

The lock, or more properly speaking the barrel 46 of the lock, is held in place in a tightly fitting bore of the housing by means of a drive pin 47 which may, if desired, be slightly tapered and which, when oncedriven in, cannot be removed. The slightly larger counterbore of the lock barrel receiving'bore in the housing is closed by a cylindrical cap 48 also held in place by the pin 47 A spring 49 engages the head 40 of the locking bolt 17 and constantly tends to shoot the bolt into locking position.

Proper movement of the cylinder of the lock by means of its key 50 turns the cam 44 st) that the lug or pin 43 on the head 40 rides upthe spiral are or curve 51 to the point 52 at which time the spring 49 is compressed, the bolt 17 entirely withdrawn from locking engagement, and contact is made between the head 40 of the locking bolt and the stem '31, butthe latter is not lifted to close the ignition circuit.

Inprevious locks of this type a ratchet disk has been secured to the cylinder of the lockiand a pawl has been secured to the housing and thus reverse movement of the cylinder has been prevented. I. find, however, that I can avoid the use of these parts by providing one-way notches such as 60 and 61 in the edge of the cam 44 and the round pin 43 acts as the pawl so that when the lock cylinder has been revolved somewhat-past third position the cylinder can not be moved reversely because of the oneway notch 60 and when thedevice has been moved beyond running position the similar notch 61 prevents its return to 'third posi-, tion' which is so named because it was the third position to beinvented. Considered merely in terms of revolution the so-called third position is the first position which is met after the key is inserted in the lock.

Referring'now particularly to Figures 7 to 10. I is a rock shaft to the front of which on the outside of the housing is a lever 71 having a downturned arm 7 2and an upturned arm 73. In the 0 position the down turned arm 72 just permits entry of the key into its key hole and the upturned arm 73 is entirely clear-of the circular opening 75 in the cylindrical cap 48, which, it will be noted, has a slot 76 permitting travel of the downturned arm "72. In Figure 8 the edge of the cam 80, which is fast to the lock cylinder inside of the cap 48, has moved the arm 72 slightly to the left and the upturned arn173 is about to engage the edge of the keyfbut not in any way'to prevent its withdrawal. In running position (shown in Figure 9) the cam 80 has moved the finger or arm 72 so far to the left that the edge 79 of tlielever 71 has engaged against the shoulder 82 of the plunger 83 and the key clockwise direction.

in this position can not be turned in clockwise direction because of the engagement of its edge with the upturned end 7 3. In Figure 10 the plunger has been depressed and the stem portion 85 is now engaged by the edge 79 and the edge of the key is in contact with the upturned end 73. The plunger is held depressed by the lever 71 and the binding action of the lever prevents further movement of the key in a clockwise direction. It will be remembered the key is now in position to be withdrawn from the lock and hence need not be turned further in If the key is now withdrawn the locking bolt 17 will rock the rock shaft 70 and withit the lever 71 and will move to locking position under urge of its spring 49 and as soon as the plunger 83 is released its spring 87 will return it to normal position.

Referring now to Figures 4, 5 and 6 the end of. the rock shaft is milled away as at 90 so as to engage in a notch cut in the steering post locking bolt 17 consisting of a plurality of communicating grooves such as 91 and 92 meeting in cusps 93 and 94. In Figure 4 the parts are in driving position, the key has been turned thru 270, the ignition is on and the steering gear is unlocked but the key can not be removed as its forward movement is stopped indirectly by the push button or plunger 83. The locking bolt 17 is held retracted by the steel cam 44 and the steel safety shaft 70 herein termed the rock shaft prevents the bolt from moving, to locked position because the edge of the rock shaft will catch the cusp 94. The key however, from this position can be turned backward to the 215 position illustrated in Figure 5. In this position the ignition is off but the steering post is unlocked and the automobile can be steered. The key can be turned forward to the position in Figure 4 but can not be turned backward as previously described and the key can not be removed. This provision allows a driver to turn his ignition off and on at will under such conditions as may seem .advisable'to him and there is no possibility of the steering post becoming locked as even if some of the parts failed the-double safety-would insure against involuntary locking and absentmindednor accidental locking is prevented because two separate actions are required to move forward to Figure 6 position, one, the pressing in of the plunger and the other the simultaneous turning'of the key. Neither act alone has any effect, both must be performed at one and the same time to free the key. In the position shown in Figure 6, which can only be-reached as just recited, the ignitionis still on and the steering gear is still unlocked. The key, however, is free to'move and by its removal the steering post previously dekey in the lock in running position, and" means serving until manually released to withhold the locking bolt from moving to locking position.

3. In combination, a'locking bolt, means for moving said bolt in one direction, a key operated lock for moving the bolt in the opposite direction, a manually releasable member, and means for locking the key in its lock after the key hasbeen turned past bolt unlocking position, until after operation of said member.

4. Incombination, a locking bolt having a transverse notch, means for moving said bolt to locking position, means for moving said bolt to unlocked position, a manually releasable member, and means engageable with said notch for holding the bolt against movement to locking position until after said member is moved.

5. The device of claim 4 in which the manually releasable member is c a spring- 6. In combination, a locking bolt, means for advancing said bolt to locked position,

-means for withdrawing said bolt from locked position, one of. said means being key. operated, means for preventing reverse only by two separate manual acts may the lock be changed from running to unlocking position. 9. A coincidental lock having a key operated cylinder characterized by the provision of manually releasablemeans for preventing withdrawal of the key from its key-hole thruout a definite. angular movement of the lock cylinder, in whichangular movement the ignition may be opened or closed at will without moving the locking bolt to locking position. I

10. A steering post coincidental lock having a key operated revolving cylinder characterized by the provision of manually releaseable means for preventing withdrawal of the key from its key-hole thruout a defi' nite angular movement of the lock cylinder, in which angular movement the ignition may be opened or closed at will without looking the steering post.

11. The device of claim 9 in which the key withdrawal preventing means includes a spring pressed membertmoveable 1n a path parallel to the axis of the lock cylinder.

12'. The device of claim 9 in which movement of the lock cylinder at one end of the angular movement is arrested by a pawl and ratchet action.

13. In combination, a locking bolt, amember projecting. laterally therefrom,- means for moving said locking bolt in one direction, a cam for moving's'aid bolt in the opposite direction against said means, said cam having shouldered indentations on'its vent reverse movement of'the cam. V M In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. v

CHARLES N. FAIRCHILD.'

movement of said withdrawing means, and

manually operated means for preventing operation of the bolt advancing means until after successive movement of the bolt withdrawing means and the manually operated 7 means. 7 V I 7 The combination with a key operated coincidental lock, of means for preventing reverse movement of the lock and means which must be manually operated to permit the turning of the look from driving position to locking position.

8. In a key operated coincidental lock having a revolving cylinder, means for pre venting reverse rotation of the cylinder from running position to locked position and means for preventing forward rotation of the cylinder from running to locking position, said last mentioned means being I manually rendered inoperative whereby 100 'member engaging surface whereby to prec 

